People on HN seem to be misunderstanding the purpose of this exam. This exam is not for web programmers, or game programmers, or any "startup"-type programmers. If what you do can be done iteratively without much problem, this exam is not for you.
This exam is for people who work on very difficult, very error-sensitive, very high-end stuff that needs to work from the very start: jet planes, medical devices, spacevessel systems, etc. You don't get second chances with these types of systems, so this exam is focused on making sure passers know the gold standard for how coding is currently done in these areas.
It's ok if your Web app occasionally spits a 500 error or your game crashes once in a while. It's not ok if your radiation therapy machine occasionally flips out and kills people with a massive overdose.
This exam is just a scam. Engineers working in those areas you described are fully aware and do not need an exam to proove it. Engineers new to those areas will not get a job because of having done this exam.
With just a so low percentage in QA passers know jack about testing very-whatever scenarios. They just get dipped into QA sauce like a hairless chicken breast. Same for all other areas described in the exam IMHO.
There is a 'great' handbook from some US military on how to develop their software. It is a massive block of everything - but after working on every single item described in there you have in depth know
edge about processes, code standards and test coverage.
This exam is for people who work on very difficult, very error-sensitive, very high-end stuff that needs to work from the very start: jet planes, medical devices, spacevessel systems, etc. You don't get second chances with these types of systems, so this exam is focused on making sure passers know the gold standard for how coding is currently done in these areas.